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Where it All Began

I've been writing about Deputy Tempe Crabtree for a long while now. Though Deadly Trail is the first book in this mystery series, it wasn't the first to come out. The publisher I found wanted to begin with Deadly Omen.

Because I wanted Deadly Trail to also be available to readers, I contacted an electronic publisher who also does trade paperbacks, Hard Shell Word Factory, and she was willing to publish it, so it came out later and I promoted it as a prequel.

In Deadly Trail, Tempe is not yet married though the wedding is soon to come about. However, all her plans are put on hold when the owner of the local inn is murdered. The detectives arrest Nick Two John because he's been having an affair with the owner's wife. Tempe doesn't believe her Indian friend is the guilty party and strikes out to find the right person.

In this first book, thanks to Two John, Tempe begins to learn more about her Indian heritage, something she's ignored in the past. As readers of the whole series know, in each book, Tempe learns more and more and becomes enmeshed in the spiritual side of being a Native American--sometimes to the great dismay of her minister husband.

The inn in the story is based on our local inn--the history of the fictional inn mirrors the real one. However, I've changed the appearance and the surrounding territory of my inn a lot. The owner of the real inn told me she wished her inn was more like the fictional one.

The launch for that book was held in the inn--great fun for all involved, especially me. That was my first book launch. I'd had lots of booksignings for other books, but never what you'd call an actual launch. Now I do one for every new book I have coming out.

In the book that will be coming out this fall, Dispel the Mist, Tempe will have an encounter with the Hairy Man, a larger than life legend of the Tule River Indians. More about that later.

If you haven't read Deadly Trail and would like to, you can get an autographed copy from my website--if you mention this blog, I'll pay the postage--or you can purchase it from http://hardshellwordfactory.com or Amazon.

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